Tuesday, November 29, 2011

From the Ashes: Former Geto Boy Big MikeFormer Geto Boy Big Mike attempts to set the record straight about his arson conviction.By Ben Westhoff Wednesday, Mar 3 2010

In 2004, Michael Barnett was paroled and released from prison. The rapper known as Big Mike had served three and a half years for torching a studio affiliated with Rap-A-Lot Records.

Serious business: Big Mike's 1997 LP was a critical and commercial success, but led to big problems between the rapper and his label.

That offense was the culmination of simmering tensions between Mike and the venerable Houston label, on which he'd released well-received solo projects and albums with Convicts and Geto Boys. By 1997 his star had risen so high that, according to Mike, Rap-A-Lot wanted to lock him down under a long-term contract.

The label attempted to make him an offer he couldn't refuse, and that's when the trouble started.

Now 37 and in a new phase of his career, Mike has decided to tell his side of the story publicly for the first time. Many of his fans know about the arson, but they assume it was the result of a mental condition or drug addiction. This is untrue, he says, and he wants to set the record straight.

"The only way to destroy those lies," he goes on, "is to tell the truth."

As girthy as his name implies, Mike wears an angular beard and his arms are tatted-up. He is extremely forthcoming and humble during a conversation at his apartment near Reliant Center, where he stays when he's in town. After getting into trouble as a kid in New Orleans, he moved to Houston to live with his grandparents and nowadays moves back and forth between the two cities.

This probably has something to do with why his music doesn't sound stereotypical of either region. The energy and up-tempo pacing on albums like his 1994 classic Somethin' Serious has a New Orleans flavor, while his lyrics are full of slang from Houston and other parts of the South. According to Mike, he taught Snoop Dogg phrases like "I don't love dem hoes" while they shared an apartment during their Death Row Records days.

Mike's short-lived deal with the Los Angeles label came about because Dr. Dre was a fan of Convicts, the duo consisting of Mike and Houston rapper Mr. 3-2. But as Death Row co-founder Suge Knight dragged his feet on their project, Mike began to consider his options.

A Rap-A-Lot representative told him that Willie D was leaving Geto Boys, and invited him to fill the spot. And so Mike returned to Houston and contributed to the group's 1993 LP Till Death Do Us Part. Though it was a strong album and eventually went gold, at the time it was seen as something of a failure, coming on the heels of the group's commercial and critical pinnacle, We Can't Be Stopped.

Mike was booted from the group shortly after he and Scarface had a physical altercation of some sort. Mike suggests 'Face was jealous over Mike's increasing fame. But Mike now had a platform to launch his solo career, and his first two Rap-A-Lot albums, Somethin' Serious and Still Serious, cracked Billboard's Top 40. The latter, released in 1997, peaked at No. 16 and demonstrated his commercial viability.

Around this time, Mike says, he attempted to collect some money he was owed by Rap-A-Lot. He called up founder J. Prince, who said sure, he could have his money, but he always wanted him to sign a new record contract.

This was news to Mike. His old contract hadn't expired, and besides, other labels were expressing interest in his services. Unsure what to do, he balked.

Apparently this didn't go over too well with Prince. Mike remembers their call being put on speakerphone, with someone lurking on Prince's end of the line barking threats. "Do you know who you're talking to?" Mike recalls the man saying. "Something could happen to you!"

Mike tried to put the conversation out of his mind. That night he fell asleep like normal in his house in a new Missouri City subdivision. But in the middle of the night, as he lay next to his pregnant girlfriend, something woke him.

"Did you just tell me to get up?" he asked his lady. She said she hadn't, so he lay back down, but sleep wouldn't return. Something felt eerie.

He walked into the living room and sat down. After pausing for a moment, he lit a cigarette and began a conversation with his maker. "Lord, I feel like somebody's plotting against me," he prayed. "Please watch over me. Don't let nothing happen to me."

Mike made the sign of the cross and leaned over to ash his cigarette. At that very moment, shots rang out and he heard the sound of glass smashing. A bullet penetrated the wall behind him, right where his head had been a moment earlier.

He hustled out of the room, avoiding the bullets and injury. His girlfriend was okay too, thankfully, as were his children — who, against their routine, happened to be with their mother that weekend.

It was divine intervention, Mike thought. Today, he doesn't come out and directly accuse Prince or anyone at Rap-A-Lot of orchestrating the shooting.

"Draw your own conclusions,"he says. (Calls requesting comment from the label for this story were not returned.)

Still, he felt what he felt, and in the coming days did a lot of thinking. He didn't go to the police, he says, because as a "street dude" that violated his code of ethics. Though initially he intended to turn the other cheek, an encounter at a local club with a Rap-A-Lot security guard made him change his mind.

Unprovoked, Mike says, the man threw a drink at him, and so he threw a couple of his own right back. "These people don't understand nothing else but guerrilla tactics," he remembers thinking, growing angry. "All of that took me away from being 'Big Mike.' It was just 'Mike' again."

Shortly thereafter, he made the decision that would dramatically alter the course of his life. He attempted to burn down a studio used by Rap-A-Lot, as well as the imprint's headquarters.

Mike won't go into details about the evening, but was quickly pinched for the studio fire. He served time in various spots around West Texas, and was released a little more than halfway through his six-year sentence.

"It's hard to think about it now, because I lost so much off that one event," he says. "Time off my life, time with my children. My career suffered a blow from it."

When he returned home, Mike found that his name had been slandered. There were rumors that he had lost his mind, and that he was abusing substances. Neither was true, he contends, and adds that he has finally gone public with his story to clear the air.

"The alternative version is already out there," he says. "People ask, 'What happened to Big Mike?' 'Oh, he tried to burn down a building. I think he went off his rocker!'"

He also wants the public to know that Big Mike the rapper is back, and he's as serious about his music as he's ever been. Indeed, his latest mixtape, Ridah Music, Vol. 1, features his vintage carefully crafted, hard-hitting sound. It has guest spots from Rick Ross and Chamillionaire, and Mike has also been working with a roster of up-and-coming and established MCs for his own Ridah Music label. He's currently bearing down in the studio, and promises a full-length release this year.

Insisting that he's not bitter, he maintains that his faith in God has helped him accept — and even feel grateful for — the hand he was dealt.

"To the average person, it may feel like they won, that they were able to stomp on my name and throw dirt on it," he says. "But I know that it don't stop there. I'll always have another opportunity. Even though [these events] changed me as a person, I'm enjoying the person I am right now."

-“I been knowing Dre since like ’80, ’81,” recalled Laylaw recently to HipHopDX of the two future producer’s initial South Central connection. “I stayed down the street from his cousin, on 76th Street, right across the street from Fremont [High School]. I played football for Fremont… and [Dre] would dance at halftime with some other brothers, some pop-locker dudes.

-Fast forward a few years to the mid-‘80s and the Fremont alums had cut their first record together: the Dracula-inspired “Monster Rapping.”

-Laylaw’s short-lived career as an artist continued the following year with “What’s Your Name,” and Electro-driven dance cut produced by “The Mechanic,” which was an alias Dr. Dre adopted at the time to avoid any conflict with his deal with Epic Records, as part of The World Class Wreckin’ Cru, while working with ‘Law.

-“It was both of ‘em,” replied Laylaw. “I don’t kiss nobody ass, man. I mean, Eazy was cool as fuck. I loved Eazy. I miss Eazy. But then when Eazy got schooled by Jerry [Heller] … All of the sudden I gotta talk to Jerry about shit I’ve never talked to Jerry about? Fuck Jerry, man. I’m not talking to Jerry about nothing. You couldn’t get me to respect Jerry. That was the problem. [I was like], ‘How you gonna just throw this muthafucka in the mix, Eazy? You used to buy dope from me muthafucka. I used to give you dope on consignment. Now you got me talking to this white fool about this bullshit?’”

-“So I’m like, ‘Alright, what’chu gonna do with my version? ‘Cause we have two versions of the song,’” he continued. “[Dre] said, ‘Your version’s the remix.’ I did it with my partner at the time, [D’Maq]. … [Dr. Dre] told me that he sent the credits into Suge [Knight] and Suge fucked it up. I called Suge. Suge said, ‘Dre never gave me the credits, ‘Law.’ … Mind you, Suge ain’t really worrying about putting my name on shit. So I get in touch with Tupac, and ‘Pac telling me he trying to leave [Death Row Records], he just wanna finish these extra albums and he wanna leave. So, we just kicked back and just let [the situation] marinate.”

Bobcat;....I had a crew called Microphone Mafiaand on a lot of 2Pac records(and on Coming after you by N.W.A/Ice Cube & MC Ren)I say at the end"Microphone Mafia", and so it was a clique record for us.K-Born, Threat, Nefertiti they was all on thatrecord and nobody had really wanted to sign them at the time,and me and Pooh was trying to kick doors down tryingto get people to hear a new kind of West Coastthing and they didn't want to hear it.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

We all know about Ice Cube hooking up withEast Coast producers (The Bomb Squad)to help make his 1990s "Amerikkkas Most Wanted"...but what you don't hear about is years before thatLL hooked up with some West Coast producers(L.A. Posse) to help makehis classic "B.A.D" album in the 80's.

DJ Bobcat talks about how he went toNew York to win a DJ battle in 1987but ended up helping produceLL Cool J's classic B.A.D. albumand also how he was the one who produced"Mama Said Knock You Out" not Marley Marl.

Bobcat:Styles, I am glad you asked that question.Because this is what I like for kidsto understand and a lot of people to understand.You've got to be patient.You've got to be patient.Like Will Smith in that new movie "Happyness".That guy was patient, you know what I mean?Be persistent and patient.It was some years before I got with Def Jam.I DJ'd all over the place, you know,at the time I was Southern California's #1 DJ.I put together the California Cat Crewand put Battlecat, Wildcat,and a bunch of other Cats on.So I had a DJ Network started already.I had that kind of local success whenDarryl Pierce and Dwayne Simon of L.A. Posse called me,they was in New York already becausewe had known Russell Simmons from us breakingtheir music at our Uncle Jamm's Army party's,so they was out there doingpre-production for a rapper named Breeze.

Bobcat:Yes sir, yes sir.So they (Darryl & Dwayne) was out there,and Russell signed Breeze.They were working on a project and theycalled me up because they were having a DJ battle.They were like"Bob, you will smoke everybody out here"because West Coast DJ's were always ahead ofEast Coast DJ's especially at that time.We still are!! (laughs).So they were like"Bob, you will come out here and kill them", so I was like"I don't have no money to come out there".So I had to DJ over-time and I was working at thisplace that was kind of like Wal-Mart at that time,so I started working over-time there and wasjust saving my money just hustling and doing whateverI could to get my plane ticket, my round trip ticket.So I ended up getting the money togetherand I flew out there, Roger Clayton didn'thave any money so I ended up payinghalf of his ticket.Paying his way out there meantthat I didn't have a way back.But I knew I was going to go outthere and win the DJ contest.

When I got there, I was a day late and a dollar short. They had already started the first round and wouldn't let me do nothing. I was like "Can I at least guest-spin so they can see?" and they wouldn't let me do nothing. Man, time stopped that day. I didn't know what I was going to do because I had no way of getting back home. It wasn't like now where you can pay-pal plus people in my family didn't have money or at least that kind of money where they could just fly me back home. So anyway, I just hung out in New York with no where to go, no where to sleep, I was out there for like 2 months! Just hanging out with them not knowing what I was going to do with my career or my life. So they was working on Breeze's record and I was like "Can I help?". They was like "No, you've got to ask Russell. You can't just start working on a record". So one day they went to the Hamburger stand down the street of the studio and I told the Engineer "Listen, let me put something on the record". He was like "No, I can't do that". I was like "Look, I know you can erase it if they don't like it. Let me put this on the record." When they was gone, he allowed me to put some stuff down and when they came back they started going bananas over it.

Bobcat: You know what? Back then they weren't using drum machines or anything like that. They were using something called a Bell, it was like a little sampling thing. You had to kind of go through the engineer to do something like that. It wasn't like we had SP's or MP's or any of that. So I did it with the turntables because remember I used to do mixtapes and stuff.I started putting all of this stuff on the record, and this is all pioneering, see what I'm telling you now is stuff that wasn't really happening until I started doing it. Like looping records, you know like "Shaft", like on LL's thing. I did a bunch of stuff like that and they went crazy. They called Russell up and let him hear it over the phone. Russell is like "Yo! That's crazy! Tell Bobcat that he's down". So I was down with the team, but I wasn't getting paid.

I was like that dude in Will Smith's movie "Happyness" working as an Intern so to speak just being patient. Well Styles, more months went by. I am hungry… (pauses)

Bobcat: Just with Breeze! And also, because we were like staff producers at the time so we were working on Alyson Williams and other R & B projects. I don't know if you know this, but I brought Nikki D over to Def Jam! She was the first female rapper to get signed to Def Jam.

Bobcat: Exactly! So we was developing stuff like that the whole time. One day Russell came and and said, "Bobcat, you are getting your first check". So that was the day, my breakthrough moment, the beginning of my entire career. Not long after that, Russell came to us and asked if we would like to do some pre-production for LL Cool J.

Bobcat: Exactly.. That was our defining moment. We were like "Of course!" .. So we met LL, and this is a good story I am going to tell you right here. The first time we met LL we was nervous and excited because Jam Master Jay, I was always real close with Jason, he had always told me that if me and this rapper named LL ever hooked up it was going to be ridiculous.That's what he used to tell me, so I already had that in my mind. So anyway, and no disrespect to my man Cut (Cut Creator) because me and him still talk and as a matter of fact he's a part of our organization (The Foundation). So anyway, we was in the studio and LL was like "Yo, let me see something. Whats up?" so I got on the turntables and I acted like I couldn't cut. I would do like these sorry little scratches and then I would act like the record was skipping. LL, he's real impatient so he's like "Yo, yo! C'mon man, let my man Cut Creator show you. He's from New York!". So Cut Creator got on and he started doing his thing. So I sat back and watched, then I said "Yo, can I get another shot? Can I try one more time?" and he was like "Sure, ok, c'mon. What you gonna do?". I said, "Can I warm up first?" and he was like "Sure, I don't care".

Now in the studio normally you know you have just one turntable hooked up just for the purposes of scratching. So I asked, "Can I hook up both turntables?" and once again he was like "Sure, I don't care". So I hooked both of the tables up and I started cutting "Rock The Bells"…(Mimics Scratching) and I started going off on "Rock The Bells" and he, I can't even explain to you, and he'll tell you if you ever interview him and if you interview him ask him about this story. He…Went…Crazy! You feel me? Because again, we (West Coast DJ's) were like light years ahead of them at this time. I know DJ's in New York is bananas now, but then we was so far ahead. So he was like "You gotta join my crew and you gotta to on tour". I was like, "Naw. I DJ for Breeze" because I am a loyal cat. This was a life changing invitation but I was like "Naw, I DJ for Breeze". He said, "talk to Breeze".When I went to Breeze I was like "Morgan…LL wants me to " and he cut in "Man, I just knew he was going to do that" (laughs).

Bobcat: You know who named us? A lot of people don't know this, but check this out. You know who named us L.A. Posse? Jam Master Jay… That's who named us L.A. Posse. You know you had the Hollis Crew and we used to be with them dudes all of the time. Those were some fun times. Imagine hanging out with Run and them, with Public Enemy… We was all recording at the same studio. Heavy D used to be coming through there, you know what I mean? Anyway, yeah, Jam Master Jay named us the L.A. Posse.

Bobcat: You know what? I would probably say the first song that we did was "Get Down". Do you remember that record? I used "Shaft" on there like I was telling you earlier. I looped it on the turntables. Its just crazy if you go back and listen to that record, and I really want you to go back and listen to it, if you listen to that record I start off with jabs (mimicks the sound) …I was taking the turntable, like DJ's do now, I was taking the pitch and pitching it up and down and making the different notes with the stabs. Nobody was doing that.

Bobcat:Well see I was already making mixtapes! All of that kind of stuff, well I wasn't doing it on that level because I wasn't making records then, but I was taking the things that I would be doing at the party's, you know tricks! Turntable tricks, and just incorporating them into the songs. Just little stuff like that.

Bobcat: I did the majority of the record, period. I did "I'm Bad". I did "I Need Love". I wrote "I Need Love". The melody, not the lyrics. Styles, I had "I Need Love" before I even came to New York. Because I had melodies and stuff but I didn't have anybody to give them to. I had that before I left Los Angeles…

Bobcat: You know, now you got me thinking because we got the "Doo Wop" on there. "Candy"… you know what? Personally, I didn't know what we was doing but we were doing a real well diverse album. We were one of the firsts to set the tone for diversity in Hip Hop. Because you had Run and them doing their thing. You had the Beastie Boys doing their thing. But a lot of records at the time were kind of one dimensional. On this album it was very diverse because you had the ballads. You had the story telling songs. You had "My Rhyme Ain't Done". You had "Get Down", a party song. But I don't really have a favorite.

Bobcat: Now this is the business part, and that's why we are doing what we are doing now (with The Foundation).By me being so young and not understanding contracts, agreements, publishing and points, they didn't pay me and us what we should have made for the Bigger And Deffer record. I found out after the record came out. It sold 3 Million copies and broke all kinds of records. I wanted to renegotiate and get more points and the people that was representing LL didn't want to do that so I told them if they don't do that then I am not coming to the table. So they went and did the album without me.

Bobcat: Now, I hate talking about that one and I'mma tell you why (laughs). One of the greatest records that me and LL have ever done is called "Crossroads" and its on that album. I used a full harmonic orchestra on that record in New York. We used 105 tracks on this song. This song is the most complex and unbelievable masterpiece ever created. Go back and listen to that. I personally know that it would have taken LL's career to the next level, because you know you can only stay at a street level or mainstream level for so long and then its over with, so you've got to go somewhere else and that song I believe would have taken him to that next level.

Bobcat: Yeah! Marley Marl talked him into doing "this is how I'm coming" and trying to do street. Treach was the hot thing at the time, so LL was trying to compete with Treach and you know what I do as a Producer is I try to keep artists being who they are. You know, trying to get them to staying away from paying attention to what the other people are doing that's hot.Because everybody spots a knockoff especially in Hip Hop immediately!

Bobcat: It's interesting and I wish my mother was right here to tell you that part because she would be like (mimics his mom's voice) "Let me tell you something".. (laughs). First, and my wife is right here to testify, the concept is my concept. Not the lyrics, but the style of rap is mine. See… now its getting more interesting. What's interesting and deep about this, is that me and LL were beefing at the time. I wasn't working with him and when I say "beefing" I mean that we weren't working together at the time. Marley Marl, they (Def Jam) had hired him to do that album. Well, they was pretty much done with that album and in some kind of way, I don't remember who called who, but we started talking and I was playing him some beats over the phone. Mama Said Knock You Out track was already a track. That was, I had a crew called Microphone Mafia and on a lot of Pac records I say at the end "Microphone Mafia", and so it was a clique record for us. K-Born, Threat, Nefertiti they was all on that record and nobody had really wanted to sign them at the time, and me and Pooh was trying to kick doors down trying to get people to hear a new kind of West Coast thing and they didn't want to hear it.

To make a longer story short, I played that track for LL and he went crazy of course. I knew he would because everybody loved that track. We agreed that we were going to do a song so I flew out to New York. We were in his condo with his Farmers Blvd. Crew, a bunch of cats that were around his way, and we were all up in there freestyling and drinking 40 ounces. I used to have, because I used to rap to not saying that like I am rapping right now because you know every producer has some skills (laughs), but I had a rap that I used to say to that beat.So the rap that I used to say to that beat I was saying it that night just chillin'. So LL started doing the style that I was doing to the beat and I said , "That's how I want you to rap!"

See sometimes you can't tell cocky rappers, "do it like this" because they won't do it. So you've got to kind of trick them in to doing it. You feel me?

Bobcat: The concept, the beat and the style, not the lyrics….There is so much to talk about with that song because its crazy. He was a point where people were saying "LL was washed up", so I referred to myself as other producers do as a "Coach" you know like in Boxing or whatever. I was like LL's custom model. Just like I did with "Jack The Ripper", I made him do that record! He didn't want to answer Kool Moe Dee!

Bobcat:So, you know, we got in the studio and he got around Marley Marl once again and started trying to rap cool. (Mimics in a cool low voice) "Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years"…I said "C'mon man!"… "C'mon man!". So we got into a big beef, a big argument and then I said "lets just go to the store and get some 40's and come back, you know get the vibe back like we had at the spot". I was real mad because to be honest, and you can quote this, Marley Marl was trying to sabotage the project.

Bobcat: He was like, "This sounds like some West Coast whoopty whoop" and he'll even tell that to you! Marley Marl will tell you, because you know he didn't understand it. What he does is funky and I love Marley Marl's production but it was a different type of project. If you remember Bigger and Deffer we did "Go Cut Creator" and it was a rock type thing because we grew up under Run-DMC and them.So part of my things is to make hard heavy rap records that are explosive and slash everybody type of records and concepts. So we got in there again, and again Marley Marl was hating so we started drinking 40's and got the vibe back. Marley Marl, and you can quote this too, he went to sleep. Yes… because we were at his house. Marley Marl left the studio, went upstars and went to sleep while we were recording the vocals on this record. When LL says "C'mon" that's not part of the song. LL was mad at me because I was cussing him out and talking real sick about the way he was rapping. He was sounding ridiculous and I was pissed off.

Bobcat: Yeah, because I kept saying "that ain't it, rewind it!!". Because when I am in the studio, I will stop you immediately and tell you that ain't it, just like a Movie Director. If an Actor is not in character you spot it immediately and say that's not it!

Bobcat: My little cousin D-Skills, he is a pioneer and underground hero too. He had a show out in Atlanta, the Black Panther Hour. Skills and Pac used to be best friends and room-mate. This was when Pac had 2Pacalypse out.You know, he was still underground and he wasn't "2Pac" the way we know "2pac" yet. He was just a regular ol' underground rapper. So D-Skills came to me and was like "Yo Bob, man, can you take this kid under your wing?" and I was like "Who is he?". So I asked if I could hear him and I think I even went and bought the CD but when I got the CD I played that CD all night as I rolled down Sunset all night long. Just bumpin' 2Pacalypse. I said "This kid is sick! Let me work with him." So as soon as we got together we hit it off and at that time Pac used to be real kick back. He used to kind of come around the studio and just not really talk loud. I had my crew, the L.A. crew, everybody was in there talking loud and he was just kind of ear-hustling and peeping out the whole situation. On that album I brought Ice-T in. I brought Cube in, and Cube was at the stage where he was one of the most feared MC's in the game with all the controversy. So I brought Cube in on "Last Words" so you know Pac was excited about that, working with his heroes. Ice T came and did a song. I brought Threat in to do a song with him called "Peep Game". I did "Soldiers Revenge" on that particular record. Then later on after he got out of jail, on the All Eyez On Me album, I did "Holla At Me".

Bobcat: You know what? Let me tell you what happened. When Pac started the "Thug Life" thing, I mean everybody saw, he went through a transition. He kinda started buggin' out a little bit. He and Treach got into some major problems out here on the West, and I ain't going to say the Gang but its one of the biggest Gangs out here, and I had to stop them from smashin' him.

I met them up at Echo Sounds and squashed a major beef that Pac and Treach had with them. People in the streets know what I am talking about, you feel me? It was that type of atmosphere, because I used to take Pac to all them clubs with Ren and them, imagine this, it used to be Me, Ren, LL, Pac and Eazy hanging out and doing all kinds of stuff. Even in this hotel (Universal Sheraton)!! Me, Pac, Eazy and LL had a Super Bowl Party ..and Yo-Yo. Again like I said I used to be taking him to the clubs, renting limousines and he was like one of my little brothers. Like a lot of us have done in the past he kind of got out of control with The Thug Life thing and all of that. I know this sounds a little crazy, but I say this a lot of times even about my own homies and one of my brother's that's in jail, he's been in jail 10 years and he'll be out next year (Irv Dogg), and I was happy when Irv Dogg went to jail and I was happy when Pac went to jail. Because they was on a course, a course that would have ended Pac's life sooner than it ended. He was just going in that direction. When he came out of jail, I did notice that he was a different person completely.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

If you don’t know who that isya might want to do your homework.The legendary DJ/producer talks about his work with;-Ice T (Radio crew,Breakin' (the movie),Reckless,Breakin' 'n' Enterin')-Ruthless Records, Death Row and Aftermath records.-Working with Eazy E and Dr. Dre.-Po Broke N Lonely and so much more.

Oh wow, I got my start in music 1983,I became a DJ and basicallytaught myself how to DJ. I had one person,Tony Joesph, that showed me the ends and outsand he was the only person I knew fromthe east coast that had any understanding of DJing.

He taught me a few things and everythingelse I learned how to do on my own.I taught myself how to scratch, mix,blend and all those good old things.After that I moved along and kind ofconquered Los Angeles by doing alot ofhouse parties and moving on to the bigger clubs.

Well to answer the first part of that question,working with Ice T was great,that guy is a fun guy (laughs).Everytime we got together it was a blastand as far as being a founding member ofthe Radio Crew and a west coast DJ,you know you really don’t know youare doing all that when you are doing it.

But as I look back on it,it was really a great learning experienceand I am proud to be a part of that.

Oh wow, yeah the whole thing with Ruthlesswas also a great learning experience.Me coming from a DJing background,I wanted my music to be in the club all the time.I wanted it in the clubs with BBD and allthose other groups that were out at the time.

But I wanted our sound to have more of a edgelyrically as well as musically.A friend of mine introduced me to Dr. Dre,I would say around 1989,and its funny because we never met eventhough we were coming up at the same time in LA,he was over in the Compton areaand I was on the west side.

Actually I was the first one to geta platinum record out here for Breakin.Me and Ice T, Breakin sold 4 million so we werethe first to go platinum before everybody else...

...Me and Dre met, and I told him about myconcept of the group and I let him hear a few things.Him and Eazy jumped right on it becauseRuthless did not have a R&B group at the time.

RC, myself and Mike Lynn we just had anotherparty making those songs man and we didalot of things that people are not aware of.We have alot of stuff thatI like to call the Lost Sessions,I probably have…., shoot, 40, 50 songsthat no one has ever heard that would stillbe relevant today if you heard them.

Moving along though,when we were just trying to breakloose with Ruthless through Epic,there became a problem.We discovered a issue financially thatEazy and Dre were gonna fall into.A friend of mine was looking over the contractsand told Dre that Eazy was screwinghim on his contract and notplaying him what he was owed.

Dre and Eazy fell out and that left us in limbo.Without a unified front to push our music,we was just kind of stuck there swinging in the wind.We decided to leave Ruthless along with Dre,and I worked with Dre on the Chronicin the meantime and we also workedon a song called The Sex Is On,which was on the Deep Cover soundtrack.

Deep Cover was the firstrelease from Death Row actually.From there, we finally got ourrelease from Ruthless after Eazy Epassed and then he went onand signed with Atlantic Records.That is where we did our biggest work,Twisted and all those other songs,those were on Atlantic.

Well I will tell you the thingthat was definitely different on Aftermaththan Death Row was you was notseeing the beatings (laughs).There was alot of beatings going on atDeath Row and none of that washappening at Aftermath.At Aftermath it was strictly businessand at first I was not interested injoining up but the lead singer ofPo Broke N Lonely, RC,convinced me to come on alongand jump on the train.

I agreed and started out asa staff producer and co-collaboratorwith Dre as I always was.It was good,interesting times in my life andI believe that the first album,Aftermath Presents,it sold like a million copies,that album was unheralded.

Musically there was alot ofgood stuff on there and wereached out and did some different things too.The most that I can say about thattime period was that it was anotherinstrumental learning period leading up toChronic 2001 and everything after that.

I will tell you this,Nas and AZ,those are some great dudes man.Nature too, but I’ll tell you thething that did The Firm wrong was thattheir first release was the wrong release.When they came out with Firm Biz,that was not what people were checking out for.When Phone Tap came out,it resurrected that whole project andif they would have released Phone Tap first,all the expectations would have been achieved.

People would have been like woahthis is what they sound like,I can’t wait to get the album.That record was dead in the water beforePhone Tap and that single pushed it toplatinum on the strength of just that one single.It was a real heavy political thing andthe releases were chosen by Steve Stoute.He was trying to push his crew,The Trackmasters,and they wanted a more traditionaleast coast sound and the first singleto not be a Dr. Dre one with a more west coast song.

We totally redesigned whatwe was doing before that project.Our music was all mob music,we was not trying to be east coast or west coast,it was just about the mob.Firm was a family and we was coming withmafia music and that is where my mind was,being the co-creator of Phone Tapand all that mafia music on there,that came from my mind and Dre’s mind.

We sat there and brainstormed on a ton of stuff.Bud’da was there and Mel-Man was there as well,on the other side they hadTrackmasters and L.E.S. as well.If you really listen to the recordsyou can almost hear the differencein production styles and values throughout.It does not have a cohesive soundfrom beginning to end the way it should have been.

You had all these strange deals,Foxy had to have her label and logo on there,so on and so forth,Cormega was not on the record becausehim and Nas fell out sowe ended up going with Nature.Nature is a beast on his own,but that album really was nota fair place for him to catapultfrom because people were expecting Cormega.We had fun making it and wedid the album all in Miami,because back then they were not coming tothe west coast and we was not going to New Yorkso we did it in a neutral site.Kind of like how they do the Super Bowl (laughs).

It was great times man.I had nothing but good times doing all of that stuff.

Hittman was great and he did a majority ofDre’s lyrics on that album.He was a writer in A LOT of those rapsand that is why Hittman did not come out.He was supposed to be released as a solo artistbut people would have said that he sounded like Dre.Dre kind of swallowed him up because he neededhim for that album and after he got through with him,you hardly ever heard anything from him.

On each album,I have a signature song on there thatI co-produced or did work on.For instance, on the Chronic,I co-produced Stranded On Death Row...

...and on The Firm I co-produced Phone Tap.

At the time I was not getting the…,I mean people always knew what I did,I would get phone calls from different celebritiesor people that were in hip hop or in the business that knew.But the credits were not in print like it should have been,but I never had a problem with it.I always compare it to a college education,you learn and then you go out and do your thing.

In between that though,I played the keys on "Hello" for NWA on Cube’s album...

...That was a comeback for them (N.W.A) at the time.It was a big record out here on the west coastbut working with all those guys,I got to say man, it’s like when people play the Lakers,they bring their best game.All these cats ALWAYS came with it,even guys like Hittman that you never heard of.

I don’t know what is taking Dreso long to come with this next album though.This is a great sequel,but if you have 9 years to create your sequel…,you got to remember the first Chronic came out in 1992,Chronic 2001 came out in 2000 andDetox is still not out and we are nearing20 years since the first one came out.

Dre has only done 2 albums but I expect that this next one…,some kind of way his albums meet expectations.

I wanted to strike out on my own andI wanted to show thatI am a great producer without Dre.People would always say oh you aregreat when you are with Dre,and that’s cool, I mean Shaq & Kobe,when you are part of a team, you use teamwork.But I wanted to get out on my ownand get out of the whole umbrella.

Eminem came out and his lyrics…,I used to have to listen tomy music in my car and study it.I had a young daughter at the timewho would repeat everything that sheheard and I wanted to get away from the wordsand gangster rap can be very sick and sinister.I felt like at that time, that is notthe direction I wanted my music to go.

So I decided to step away,and I also had a medical situation andI had to have brain surgery,so that also made me step back for a bit,and I also got involved in television.I started composing for different shows,but alot for the UPN Network back then.I did all the shows on there,I did Girlfriends, The Parkers, The Game,not to mention network shows, Medium, NCIS,you know all over the place.

It was better for me becauseI got away and I was able to put together a different,but more stable type of life.I ended up meeting my future wife andhaving another child and ready got corefamily values and that is what happenedto me and got me to step away from that.

Aww Pistol!I am actually working with another cat,Pimpin Ten aka John Wayne.Young Pistol is actually my prodigy andI will be honest with you,he reminds me of Kurupt.I think he has a million lyrics andhe will freestyle anybody and go in a circleuntil everyone is done with lyrics and just keep going.

That is what I like about himand cats are not doing that anymore.You meet artists and they are about one thing,they players, partying, banging,and he is not about all of that.Even though he grew up in the jungle,the hood, he is a good kid.Almost seems misplaced and he shouldhave been born on the east coast.

I love the new west,I don’t know where the term camefrom but I like it.New, young talent infused into west coast hip hop,but I don’t know the whole old west,new west seems to me that there issome bitterness coming from the older guysthat are trying to not let go or something,I don’t know man.

When you are coming from theperspective of a producer,you can produce old west and new west.If you are a rapper and you have whatpeople consider a old west sound,that is what it is.I can see Ice Cube’s point also andI know he felt disrespected but also these kidsgrew up listening to us and I think they have respect now.

They may not always say it but alot ofthem know they would not be rapping ifthey daddy was not listening toIce Cube, NWA or Ice T, King T.They would not even know how to makethese records and in LA there is a studioon every street because we showed peoplehow to put a studio in their house.

When I was coming up there was nostudios accessible like it is now.I had to go the valley to work in a studio,so yeah I believe in the new west andI want to see someone come out and shine.Like how Drake blew up and now he is everywhere,I want someone from LA to come up and be that.

I mean this is LA,this is not some small market,we need someone that will stand up and represent us.New west, old west, it does not matter to me,they just need to be tight.

I will be honest with you,I think Young Pistol could be something serious,but there is so much politics out here.Especially when your trying todirect artists in the right directionthey need to be going, and that is causing alotof good artists to fall by the wayside.I remember when Glasses Malonefirst came out and he is tight to me.Guerrilla Black was cool,and he could have been something,but we don’t tend to work cohesivelywith one another here on the west coast.

We don’t get together and band behind something out here.We are like the 5 boroughs but all separate.We are not trying to come together like say aNew York does, we don’t do that.You have Los Angeles, Compton, South Central, Watts,you know that is really just one city.I mean Compton has their own mayor butit is really LA County, but yeah it is reallyalot of separatism here where it should be more unity.

I don’t think that it is ever going to changeand I think it is because of the diverse backgroundsand where our parents were all fromdifferent parts of the country,nobody is really 2,3,4 generationsof grew up in Los Angeles.They are 1 or 2 generationsremoved from being somewhere else,like I was born and raised here butboth my parents were from somewhere else.

Once you have some generations thatgrow up and go to school together,then we will have more unity.But until we get unity,we will have division,we will have old west VS new west,how stupid is that?

Well to answer your first question,my first records,I had to go to these lavish studios,do all this work, spend all this money,hire a engineer until I learned how to do it myself.Now everything that I have is on my laptop,including my pro tools,which I can use without hardware.I carry around 10 studios in one bagand I really love that.

If this had been out when I was young,we would have changed the game 10, 20 times over.It would be something completely different right now.When I started producing,they did not even really have MIDI,it was just instruments being connected together.Then MIDI came out and I grew up duringthat whole development,it might seem like a long time agobut we are only talking about the 80′s.

As far as producers,I really have not kept up with alotof producers that is new that stands out to me.It seems like it is the same peoplestill out there doing it.My favorite producer is Timbaland.

Yeah he is up there for me also.He is incredible.

He is something else and he is the same way,his studio is in his bag as well (laughs).

I would say before you get into themusic industry, you have to havea certain type of mentality.You have to be dedicated because peoplewill hate on you and no one will believe in you.Could be your girl or someone elsegiving you a hard time.Definitely stay in school and finish school.With the technology out now,you can work on your music in your houseand put it up on I-Tunes for sale (laughs).

I have songs for sale on Facebook,but yeah it is so easy for peopleto get their music out thereand for people to buy it.If we could have went from theroota to the toota like that andsold records 10 years ago like that,record companies would have BEEN out of business.We were selling CDs literally out the trunk of cars,now you can sell them out of your bag or your laptop?

But the problem is,people do not have enough cashto promote and really develop their artand their craft the way that they should.It is just a whole bunch of junk that is out there,there is good stuff out there,but you have to shift throughall the other stuff to find it.When I used to go a dig in the cratesfor records when I was a DJ,I would go through 70 records to find 1 dope one.

Yeah I just want to say what’s upto anyone that I have ever worked with.They know who they are and I also want tosay sorry it took so long for us to link upfor this interview butI have been working but I am glad we linked up.Everyone out there in the music world,just keep working and hopefully thingswill change and we will begetting rich again like we was before.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

We talked about it, but at the same timewe know that is close to beinga Westside Connection album.It has to be something special asopposed to me and Cube just doing a album together,it has to be something special.What I would do in a situation likethat is turn around and ask the fans,besides just Dub and Cube rapping,what would you want to hear?

Would you want to hear us get political,you want to hear some street shit,would you want to hear a hip hop oriented album?What kind of album would you belooking for in todays time?That is not a Westside Connection record.Do you have the answer?

EXACTLY, the whole shebang.I know everyone is out there doingthey own thing but that wholeWestside Connection situation,I am not going to say the door is shut on it,and I will keep it real with you in this interview,the door is not shut on that at all,you never know,but right now I don’t see it happening.

You know…, shit I ain’t mad at you.I feel the same way but you can’tdictate other peoples schedules,Cube is a busy man andGame is a individual that does Game.He has alot of shit booked up as well.I am always trying to make somedifferent shit happen so I don’t knowexactly what is going on with their scheduling.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

“He definitely made me rap my verse like 33 times,”Jones told MTV this past week aboutworking with the good doctor.“It was cool. It was a great experience.”Cam’ron also experienced Dre’spenchant for perfectionism:“He made me get out and do my verse over,”he recalled.“He’s real intricate.Basically, he was like,‘I want this kind of flow,’and he’ll mumble it out,”the slick-witted MC continued,explaining the process. "It was like, ‘Yo, go do that again; it’s terrible.’ ”

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Exclusive: Game explains that he and RZA made a song that couldn't be used for "R.E.D.," but when it ended up on this week's mixtape, the Abbott started sending cease-and-desists.

Yesterday, HipHopDX spoke with Compton, California emcee Game about his just-released double mixtape Purp & Patron. After revealing that Nas is a fan of "The Kill" and how iconic deejay Funkmaster Flex got involved with the project, Game also confirmed reports that Wu-Tang Clan's RZA had sent a cease-and-desist to Game and the media over the song "Heartbreaker."

On Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Universal Music Publishing Group sent an "unauthorized use" letter on behalf of Robert Diggs (a/k/a RZA) to several media companies, including HipHopDX.com, asking for the removal of "Heartbreaker" from Purp & Patron, on behalf of the Wu's co-founder. The song has since been removed from the double-mixtape on DX. Yesterday, Game weighed in with what happened behind the scenes.

"I think RZA [is] tryin' to sue about ['Heartbreaker'] or somethin'," confirmed Game to HipHopDX yesterday. "That's fuckin' crazy. Like, I don't even know how RZA sues The Game." From Game's understanding, the song was an agreement. "He came to the studio and brought the ['Heartbreaker'] track to me. He's like, 'Yo Game, this is for you. You can have that.' Those are his words." Game also maintains that RZA's company on that day, Rev. Burke, was invited to rhyme on the record. "His boy spit crazy. I [rapped after] him."

Originally unsure what to do with the final product, the team learned that there were problems with the song's composition. "We found out that the sample was un-clearable," said Game about the Grand Funk Railroad song of the same name. "For anybody." In the rapper's eyes, that made the song unusable for his upcoming R.E.D. album. "So I threw it out [on a mixtape]. The next thing I know RZA is suing The Game. That shit's crazy. I didn't even know Wu-Tang sued niggas." Although the Aftermath Entertainment star was taken aback by the news, he says it's nothing personal. "I still got nothin' but respect for RZA [and] the whole Wu, and all of that. I'm good. I'm good friends with Ghostface [Killah] and [Raekwon] and Method [Man]. Those are my dudes. I would never speak down on RZA or any of those dudes for that matter - not that any of those dudes [have anything] to do with this conversation. But with the Wu, you gotta speak to a pack. It's all love." Last year, Game appeared on Ghostface Killah's album, Apollo Kids. On Game's last album, L.A.X., Raekwon appeared.

Although the song is presently an endangered species with Universal Publishing's cease-and-desist on behalf of RZA, Game remains complimentary of RZA's latest lyrical protege. "This dude Rev. Burke, he threw some shots out. He had a crazy lil' pimp swag. He had two girls with him; they were lookin' at this lil' nigga like he was Jesus and shit, while he was spittin' in the booth. I felt like when he was in the booth, that I was in the movie The Mack. This nigga was standin' there rockin' back and forth at the mic, and these chicks was dancin' slow and seductively. Shit was crazy."

Monday, January 3, 2011

Daz Dillinger - East Coast /West Coast shit man, and he had a tumor 'cause Tupac and them beat the fuck out of him! That's why he got a tumor and damn near died. He quit. We had a meeting one day right after we got shot at and so Tupac said to Sneed, "you just shot a video right?" So he said "yeah." Pac said "well we're gonna sit down and see if any West Coast muthafuckas is in there, and each time we see a East Coast muthafucka we gonna knock you in your muthafuckin' head." So every time they would see a East Coast dude they would kick him in the ass and Budda, you know the producer, he a bitch too 'cause he sat there and watched Sam Sneed get beat up. Didn't say shit!

Daz Dillinger - I would have got up and whooped somebody's ass. I had guns so I wasn't worried about what they were doing. Me and Nate Dogg were the only ones that would be strapped up in that muthafucka. 'Cause when we would have a meeting it would be Bloods and Crips in there so it's like shit, if we get to fighting up in this muthafucka just start shooting and run towards the door. And then you know Kurupt and Tupac got into it once. Tupac was gonna whoop the shit out of Kurupt in Cancun. Tell somebody to ask Kurupt was Tupac gonna beat your ass, and Daz and Nate Dogg saved you from getting your ass whooped from Tupac and them?